Drop shuttle box and connecter therefor



June 23, 1931. c. J. LINDEGREN DROP SHUTTLE BOX AND CONNECTER THEREFOR Filed April 16, 1950 as w F151 EH QE. 8 a? A TTUP/VE Y5 Patented June 23, 1931 UNITED, STATES PATENT OFFICE CARL J". LINDEGREN, F PROVIDENCE, RI-IGDE ISLAND, ASSIGNOR 'IO OROMPTON & KNOVVII'JES LOOM WORKS, 70F WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPGRATION OF 'lvIASSACHUSETTS DROP SHUTTLE BOX AND GONNEGTER THEREFOR Application filed April 18, 1930. Serial No. 444,842.

This invention relates to improvements in eonnectlons between drop shuttle boxes for fancy looms and the box lifter rod, and it is .the general object of the present inven- 'tion to provide means to permit the boxes to move freely in their guides by means of a loose preferably ball and socket joint between the boxes and the rod.

In fancy looms as commonly used it is customary to secure the box lifter rod rigidly tothe drop boxes, with the result that thelever or connecter for the box rod may cause binding of the boxes in their guides unless said lever or connecter moves in a direction exactly parallel to the guides.

Furthermore, so far as I am aware, no attempt has been made to apply the lifting force to the boxes directly under their center of gravity. It is an important object of my present invention to employ a ball and socket connection between the shuttle boxes and lifter rod located so as to be substantially under the center of gravity of the boxes and the shuttles contained therein.

As the lay swings back and forth the'angle between the box lifter rod and the horizontal plane changes, butthe loom is ordinarily so constructed that the reed-and box lifter rod together with the guides for the-boxes are manner. of applying force to the boxes.

It is suflicient in order to accomplish the results" of my present invention to have the ball and socket joint made of two members one of which moves with the boxes and the other of which moves with the box lifter rod, but I have chosen to show herein a construction wherein the ball is on the rod and the socket is on the boxes.

With these and other objects in view which will appear 'as the. description proceeds, my invention resides in the combinatlon and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and set forth in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, wherein a convenient embodiment of my invention is set forth,

Fig.1 is a front elevation of the drop box end of the loom having my invention applied thereto,

Fig. 2 is a detailed vertical section on an enlarged scale taken on line 22 of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 3 is a detailed enlarged horizontal section taken on line 33 of Fig. 1.

Referring to Fig. 1, I have shown a loom frame 10 and a lay 11 mounted on swords one of which is indicated at 12. The lay moves about a rocker shaft 13 journaled in a fixed bearing 14 and having a rocker foot 15. The usual picker stick 16 may be pivoted to the foot as at 17 and the latter may have an upwardly extending arm 18 through which a box lifter rod 19 extends. 20 may be connected pivotally to the bottom of the rod and may be attached at the upper end thereof to a lifter lever 21.

The lay may have a gang of shuttle boxes designated generally at 22 and shown herein as consisting of four cells any one of which may assume active position opposite the race plate 23 of the lay. The outer end of the gang is provided with a tongue 24 to be received by a guide groove 25 carried by a plate 26 secured to the lay, and in like manner the inner end of the boxes may have a tongue 27 to be guided by a groove 28 formed in fixed structure with respect to the lay. The boxes may be provided with the usual binders 29 and binder springs 30.

By means of mechanism not shown but well understood the lay together with the boxes will swing back'and forth during nor mal operation of the loom and the box lifter rod will be moved to any one of four different vertical positions with respect to the lay.

The matter thus far described is of common construction and forms no part of my present invention, operating in the usual A link manner so that each cell maybe in active position and may house a shuttle S.

In carrying my invention into efiect I secure to the floor or bottom 40 of the lowest box a socket forming member4l having a parti-spherical depression 42. This member may be welded, riveted, or in any other approved manner secured to the gang of boxes in desired position and cooperates with a second socket forming member 48. The latter is removable with respect to the first named member and is held in position by means of bolts 44 which pass through the vertical web 45 of the member 41 to position a partispherical recess 46 thereof concentrically with a corresponding depression 42. These members 41 and 43 comprise the I socket member of my improved connection and in actual use Wlll form the ma or part of a concave sphere the lower portion of which is opened or broken away as at 47 for a purpose to be described. I

The upper end of the rod may have formed thereon a ball 50 which is formed as something more than half of a spheroid, being connected to the box lifter rod by areduced neck 51. It is desirable that the neck eration of the loom the boxes shift accord-f ing to the manner alreadvmentioned, the force to raise the boxes being transmltted through the ball and socket connection. The

boxes will therefore be free to move in a direction determined by their tongues and guide grooves, thereby insuring correct action of the boxes. m

From the foregoing it will be seen that I have provided a very simple and efiicient form of connection between the box lifter rod and a gang of shifting shuttle boxes so arranged that the boxes may move in the direction determined by their guide grooves and that the lifting force is communicated through a ball and socket joint, one member of which is on the box structure and the other member of which is on the lifter rod; It will further be seen that the socket is made of two parts one of which is removable with respect to the box struc- V ture, thereby facilitating repair and re-,

rolled structure is that the ball is of the same or less diameter than the diameter of the cylindrical partof the lifter rod. Further, it will be seen that the center of the limited-to the details herein disclosed, but

what I claim is:

1. In a loom having a lay, shifting shuttle boxes movable to different positions with respect to the lay, a box lifter, a ball formed on the lifter, and a socket member carried by the shuttle boxes and housing the ball, the ball and socket constituting a means of transmitting force'from the lifter to the shuttle boxes. r

2. In a loom having a lay, a shifting shuttle box element, an actuator element therefor, a ball moving with one of said elements, and means defining a socket moving with the other element, said socket'receiving the ball and together with the latter transmitting a moving force from the actuator element to the shifting box element. 1

3. In a loom having a lay, shifting shuttle boxes movable to different positions with respect to the lay, a box lifter, a ball formed on the lifter, and a pair of members carried by the shifting shuttle boxes and defining a socket to receive the ball, said ball and socket transmitting a force from the lifterto the shuttle boxes.

4. In a loom having a lay, shifting shuttle boxes movable to diiferent positions with respect to the lay, a box lifter rod, and a pair of pressure transmitting elements between the rod and the shuttle boxes, one of said elements constituting aball and the other providing a socket to receive the ball.

5. In a loom having a lay, shifting shuttle boxes movable to different positions with respect to the lay, a box lifter rod, and a pair of pressure transmitting elements between the rod and the shuttle boxes, one of said elements constituting. a ball and the other providing a socket to receive the ball,

the socket element being in two partsone of which is removable with respect to the other element. Y

6. In a loom having a lay, shifting shuttle boxes movable to different positions with formed on the rod of substantially the same dlameter as the diameter of the rod, and

respect to the lay,. a box lifter rod, a ballmeans carried by the shifting shuttle boxes defining a socket to receive the ball, saidball and socket transmitting lifting force from the lifter ,rod to the shuttle boxes, 4 i

- 7. In a loom having a lay to move back and forth therein, shifting shuttle boxes to move with respect to the lay while the lat-- ter is in its forward position, said boxes moving with respect to the lay while in a vertical position, an actuator for the shuttle boxes, and a connection between the actuator and the shuttle boxes located vertically below the center of gravity of the shuttle boxes when the latter are in their vertical positions with the lay in its front position, said connections being formed partly of a ball and partly of a socket member.

8. In a loom having a lay, shifting shuttle boxes movable to different positions with respect to the lay, a box lifter rod, a ball formed on the upper end of the rod and having a surface greater than a hemisphere, a reduced neck between the ball and the rod, and a socket forming member on the shuttle boxes having a cavity greater than a hemisphere to receive the ball, said member being formed to lie around the neck but be spaced therefrom so that the rod may have an angular motion with respect to the socket member.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto aflixed my signature.-

CARL J. LINDEGREN. 

